the edupreneur's journey

Part 7 (Performing)

Abdillah started performing at a tender age of 6 years whilst still in Kindergarten. Performing as the big bad wolf, that was his first break into the world of performing arts.

Whilst he may have been too young to start performing then, he has since went on to perform a Mandarin song with his classmates in Primary 2 for Chinese New Year. He has also been a frequent feature for Hari Raya performances in primary school playing the role of a grandfather and also being part of the dikir barat troupe.

He also ventured into the arena of singing when he joined the talentime competition in primary school. He made it to the finals but was denied of performing as he didn’t have a minus-one then, his classmate who took his spot went on to win the 1st prize.

Silent from stage in secondary school, he made a comeback in polytechnic with Theatre Compass staging lunch time plays around the campus and even an outdoor performance for Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Flexible to perform in both English and Malay, he was also the pioneering batch of male dancers in Singapore Polytechnic who performed the Zapin dance for the National Day Observance Ceremony in 2003.

In 2004, he was invited to be part of the group that represented Singapore Polytechnic under the name Sang Singa Purba to compete in Pentas Pujangga. The group went on to be the Champion as well as Best Director and Most Creative Award. He continued to be part of the group performing with them in Awallah Dondang in 2004 before he left for National Service.

Not wanting to lose his touch in the performing arts, he gladly took on a casting role to open the performance for National Junior College’s Malay Drama performance in 2007.

To ensure that he was back in the mainstream performing arts, he took his chance when he was roped in to assist with Gentarasa 2007. As the Assistant Props Master, he had the task of creating new props and ensuring that the props being used by the performers were in order and ready whenever required. It was also during this period that he received close guidance and tutelage from several local artise; Fared Jainal (Goh Chok Tong Awardee) and Emanorwaty.

Later that year, he assisted to Direct, Stage Manage, Playwright and Choreograph for his delegation’s performance in the 34th Ship for Southeast Youth Program.

A year later, he was approached by a group of undergraduates from National Technological University to assist them with a school project which required them to stage a short play on the proper usage of the internet. The project, Project RGB, was co-scripted and directed together with one of his members from Sang Singa Purba. The project and performance was featured on the Malay news on local television channel, Suria.

Abdillah also later took on the role of Production, Stage & Lighting Manager when he was part of the group Kotak, who performed in Kuala Lumpur for the Drama 10 Minit (10 Minute Drama).

That same year, he also featured as the leading cast in DownStage Left’s Double Bill performance.

He has also since then been featured as one of the talents in Singapore’s National Day video, playing the role of a boyfriend who’s car broke down along the road.